Dodge Gets 1,000th Yard, Third 'Wheelers Receiver to do so, 'Wheelers Rout Green Bay 75-29
July 7, 2003 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Quad City Steamwheelers News Release
GREEN BAY, Wis. â For the Quad City Steamwheelers, their 11th straight win could not have been any sweeter. A 75-29 rout of the Green Bay Blizzard (2-11) in front of 2,649 at the Resch Center put the âWheelers another game closer to a National Conference championship.
The 75 points scored by the Steamwheelers (11-2) is their highest point total of the season, coming from the arm of Game MVP and âWheelers QB Tony Zimmerman as well as WR/DB Tim Dodge, Ironman and WR/DB Jeff Hewitt and OS Ira Gooch.
Dodge caught eight passes for 133 yards, two for touchdowns en route to eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark, who now sits at 1,011 receiving yards for the season. With that performance, Dodge became the third âWheelers receiver to eclipse the 1,000 receiving yards in a season, something that has never happened in arenafootball2 history before.
Gooch led all receivers with 141 receiving yards on nine receptions, three of those touchdowns. But it was Zimmerman who had the all but perfect night.
Zimmerman went 17-of-20 for 278 yards, five touchdowns and rushed twice for touchdowns. Zimmerman is now at 73 touchdown passes for the season, leaving him 13 short of the 86 passing touchdown mark set by Matt Sauk of Tennessee Valley back n 2001. Zimmerman would need to average 4.3 touchdown passes to tie the record and 4.6 to break it.
Two of the three Zimmerman incompletions came on the Steamwheelers first drive. Zimmerman than completed the next 15 passes before throwing his last incompletion.
Ever since Hewitt was moved from playing LB on defense to DB, he has climbed slowly up the interception chart. Saturday night was no different as he added another interception, one that was returned 23-yards for a touchdown. Hewitt also added three pass deflections and two tackles. On the offensive side of the ball, Hewitt had three receptions for 49 yards and the Steamwheelers first score.
The Blizzard and Steamwheelers traded scores for the first quarter with the âWheelers only leading 14-6 after one quarter of play. Then things got exciting for the âWheelers in the second quarter. After the Blizzard scored with 6:54 to go in the first half, the Steamwheelers rolled off the next 33 points, building their lead to 53-15.
It started with Zimmerman hooking up with Gooch on a 14-yard touchdown pass with 3:13 to go. Then after a four and out for the Blizzard offense, Zimmerman found Gooch again, this time it was a 24-yards hookup. Then with 00:22 to go in the half, Hewitt snagged an interception and returned it for the touchdown, giving the âWheelers a 39-15 halftime lead.
After receiving the second half kickoff, the âWheelers marched down the field using three plays, going 32 yards in 1:15 capped off by Zimmerman's second rushing touchdown.
After Blizzard QB Ramon Robinson failed to convert on fourth down, the Steamwheelers took over again, this time it was FB/LB Brian Berg who rushed ten yards for the score.
Berg, who was the only FB/LB on the roster, (as usual starter Josh Fourdyce is nursing a calf injury and James Houston is still on the long-term injured reserve list) played the games first 13 straight minutes without a break and knew he was in for a long night.
But the former San Diego Riptide FB/LB led the team in tackles with seven as well as adding a fumble recovery and a blocked PAT attempt.
DS Asa Francis had another outstanding game despite what the statistics showed. Francis was all over Robinson like a blanket, but yet again the opposing QB managed to get rid of the ball in just enough time to avoid the sack. Francis finished the night with 2.5 tackles, a forced fumble, a pass deflection and another sack. His one sack brought his total to 9.5 sacks for the season, which is one behind league leader Charlie Cook of Mohegan.
Francis was named the games ADT Defensive Player of the Game for the second time in the past three weeks.
Backup QB Ronnie Gordon got numerous minutes in the fourth quarter and completed 4-of-5 passes for 54 yards and a touchdown.
The Steamwheelers did not use much time en route to scoring their 75 points, using 22:07 of the games 60 minutes, compared to the Blizzard using 37:53 to score their 29 points.
The âWheelers also kept the Blizzard out of the double-digit column for points scored per quarter, allowing 6, 9, 7 and 7 in each quarter, respectively, while scoring 14, 25, 14 and 22, respectively.
The game did have one interesting play, one most probably haven't seen before. After the Blizzard scored with 9:16 to go in the game, K Greg Krauss attempted an onsides kick that managed to curve out to the two-yard line then backwards into the end zone in which WR/DB Terry Foster fell on it, resulting in a safety.
After a bye week and trips to Hawaii and Green Bay, the âWheelers will finally return home to the friendly confines of The MARK of the Quad Cities after a 28 day break from their home arena. They will welcome the San Diego Riptide at 7: 30 p.m. on Saturday, July 12th.
A week following that game, on Saturday, July 19th, the Steamwheelers will host the undefeated Tennessee Valley Vipers. The Vipers, who won 20-13 against Memphis on Saturday night, could bring an undefeated mark into The MARK, pending the outcome of their upcoming game against the Florida Firecats on Saturday night in Tennessee Valley. Good tickets are still available for both games and can be purchased at The MARK box office or through TicketMaster at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 563.326.1111.
The Steamwheelers will then finish the regular season up against their "War on I-74" rival Peoria Pirates in Peoria, Ill. at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 26th. Fans looking to make the trip can go to www.steamwheelerfans.com for more information.
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